Ukiah City Council debates reaction to gun violence

After a discussion on how the country should respond to gun violence, the Ukiah City Council recently decided to modify its letter stating it supported a local congressman's appointment to the national Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.

"I can't sign the letter as written," said Mayor Doug Crane, referring to a letter drafted by Council member Mary Anne Landis to Rep. Mike Thompson (D - St. Helena) that said the council was "devastated" by the recent shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut that killed 20 children and six adults.

"We have had far too many of these tragedies in the past few years, and each time we are hopeful that meaningful steps to prevent and reduce gun violence will be made," Landis wrote. "However, we have yet to see effective action on this issue. Enough is enough. Now is the time for action.

"The (Council) recently learned that you have been appointed chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force," the letter continues. "Your experience as a hunter ... and your service in Vietnam will give you the proper perspective to develop a comprehensive approach to reduce gun violence and strengthen our nation's gun laws while protecting law-abiding citizens' rights to own legitimate firearms for legitimate purposes."

Crane said he would support the letter if mention of strengthening the gun laws was removed, "because I don't think it's about the gun laws.

"The biggest problem we have is not identifying these types of people with those problems and not giving them the help they need," he said, referring to those suspected of killing many people before killing themselves or being shot by law enforcement. "In my view it is in large part a cry of despair on the part of those individuals, and we seem to let ourselves get sucked into being focused on their tool of choice, instead of treating the real problem, which is the failure of our mental health network.

"When we get sucked into arguing about who should and shouldn't have a gun, the real issues get ignored," he continued. "It's human behavior that uses whatever tool is at their disposal: knives, sticks or stones ... and until we come to grips with that, we're letting the real problem be unresolved. We need to put more effort on the behavior."

"But having an assault weapon with a big magazine changes the amount of damage that can be done," Landis said. "The letter indicates that other avenues are part of the solution. I'm not trying to solve it, I just want to say that we support (Rep. Thompson)."

"To say that someone with a knife can walk into an elementary school and kill 20 kids, doesn't work," said Council member Benj Thomas.

Vice-Mayor Phil Baldwin said he appreciated that the item was on the council's Jan. 16 agenda, "because I think it sets a positive precedent for us to occasionally weigh in on national issues."

Baldwin retired last year from teaching at Potter Valley High school, and added that as someone "who's been in a classroom most of my life, teachers should be able to lock their doors at the push of a button, and lower their blinds at a push of a button. I think deep down, we all know it's going to happen again, even if we strengthen the gun laws."

Landis and Crane agreed to revise the letter.

Justine Frederiksen can be reached at udjjf@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @JustFrederiksen or at 468-3521.